UMass hockey versus Lowell pre-game notes: Revenge time - which is the better state hockey school?

Darren Rowe was the last player to score against UNH's Casey DeSmith until BU stopped his three-game shutout string Sunday. File photo by The Republican

Back on Nov. 2, Darren Rowe scored in overtime to lift the University of Massachusetts hockey team to a 2-1 overtime win over New Hampshire.

That would be the last goal UNH goaltender Casey DeSmith would give up until Sunday afternoon.

Following the Rowe goal, DeSmith went on to register three straight shutouts. Finally, he gave up a goal Sunday. Yeah, only one. And that was a second-period goal by BU's Danny O'Regan. It didn't do the Terriers any good. UNH won 3-1, and DeSmith made 45 saves.

That UMass win over UNH is looking better and better.

Now for Sunday night's game at home (7) against Lowell - What's weird is that the River Hawks have been outscored 22-13 overall, but have outshot their opponent in every period, and are averaging over five more shots per game (32.5 - 27.4)

The Minutemen have a large returning cast, hopefully with good memories. Lowell swept UMass last season, winning 4-0 and 5-2 at home, and 4-2 in Amherst. So it's revenge time.

Lowell goaltender Doug Carr stopped 78 of 82 shots in the series last year for a .951 save percentage. So far this season, he has a goals against average of 2.36 and a .911 save percentage. UMass goaltender Kevin Boyle has a goals against average of 1.64, and a save percentage of .939.

Balanced scoring - So far this season, UMass has a total of six players with either five or six points.

Prior to being swept by Lowell, UMass had won five straight games from Jan. 15, 2010 - Jan. 15, 2011.

Lowell leads the all-time series 34-24-6.

I ask this every year - where of where is the old Alumni Cup for winner of the season series? Maybe we can start a new cup - you know "The Better State School Cup."
And the winning team gets an allotment of tee-shirts to give out to their students at the first home match-up of the next year. How about really rubbing it in? The winning team logo on the front has the word "Superior" across it, and the other team logo on the back with "Inferior".

By the way, for you from Eastern Mass. It's UMass versus UMass-Lowell not UMass-Amherst vs. UMass-Lowell.